Wow, what a way to start the post season. 3 road victories, and 1 home victory that was still a definite underdog win. Normally losing the first game of the series, even if it's at home, isn't too much to be worried about. Nobody was picking the Pens to sweep anyways, and I still expect them to take the series. But MAF's performance in net is definitely something to worry about. Now I know he isn't a rookie goaltender, he went the whole way last year. And all he needs to do is to look back at last year and he can regain his composure. Still though, he looked average a few times tonight, and just plain bad once or twice. The Pens have the firepower to score themselves out of trouble (which they almost did tonight) but it'll be interesting to see how long it takes for MAF to bounce back. I figured Brodeur had seen better days when his numbers began to drop in the second half of the season after he broke all those records. And then seeing him falter in the Olympics only solidified that. But seeing him get outplayed by Brian Boucher? Did not see that coming. Most people expected this to be a pretty tight series, so Philly winning at least one in Jersey shouldn't be too much of a shocker, but having the goaltenders decide this game and it coming out in favor of the Flyers is a big surprise. While Bryzgalov did play spectacular tonight, and definitely gave Phoenix a chance to win, the team played pretty damn good as well. There were a few times in the third when they had Detroit held into their zone and just kept passing the puck around, pushing the Detroit defensmen around and just put it to 'em. I know it doesn't mean much, especially since it's a home win, but that was still a huge confidence booster for the 'Yotes. His mouth said "Fuck off" but Doug Wilson must have been thinking "Here we go again". The highpowered offense of San Jose losing a 2-1 game to a bunch of 19 year olds? If they can't pull themselves out of this one, Jumbo Joe and Nabokov are both gone for sure, possibly more. And like Phoenix, it wasn't even Anderson carrying them - though he did play great. Colorado outshot San Jose 12-3 in the second period. The fans were already booing the home team off the ice after 40 minutes and it was even louder after the final buzzer. The first game is hardly anything to base an entire series off of, but the salary cap just might finally be doing is job in creating some parity between all the teams in the league. One thing's for certain though: I am fucking pumped for the next 2 months.
@Creelmania -- nice with the TV's. In my dorm we have 3 in one room and 2 in another so it wasn't a problem. It's an adjustment when I go home and there is only one tv per room. I drew Colorado in my hockey pool this year - 10 bucks to get in random draw for a team. Was pumped when they pulled that out last night. Also, I can't imagine living without CBC. I've grown up in Central NY and now go to school in northern NY, and I just can't imagine not having channel 2 or 4 be Hockey Night in Canada come Saturdays... Also, screw the Wings, Pens, and Devils. Let's go Avs.
What the hell are you talking about? Boucher didn't outplay Brodeur, the game was 2-1. The problem was the Devils offense. They may have outshot Philly, but they looked like shit doing it. Boucher didn't have to play well at all. Too many shots missing the net, too many missed chances, too many missed passes. The two things I took out of that game are this: 1) There's just no way the Devils O plays THAT bad on Friday night. It just can't happen. They can be bad, but they can't be THAT bad. 2) Marty and the D both looked sharp.
Absolutely the problem was the Devils offense. Specifically the power play. When you spend 6 of the first 12 minutes of the 3rd period on the PP and can barely manage a handful of shots, something's wrong. At least it's all uphill from here in that regard. Also, someone needs to tell Kovalchuk that he doesn't need to win the series all by himself. After that one play (early in the second?) where he split the two defensemen and barely missed the net, it seemed like every time he got the puck in the neutral zone, he'd build up a head of steam, carry the puck in himself, try to beat three Flyers on the way to the net and wind up losing it every time.
I was in class til 9pm so most of my input is on the 2 late games. Pens and Sens: Ugly game from MAF and the defense. Also some tough breaks like that flukey bounce off the boards. Nevertheless, the offense did pretty well, particularly the PP which had been a problem all year. This one might wind up going to 6, but I still see the Pens winning. Flyers and Devils: Note, I didn't see any of this game. If you look at their regular season games it isn't all that surprising. I just think it's a bad matchup for New Jersey where they're the better team in the league, but not in this particular series. Coyotes and Red Wings: This was one of 2 series I predicted one team (Detroit) to steamroll over the other. At first it seemed like that might have been the case. Detroit was controlling the puck, dominating the neutral zone and getting more shots on net. Phoenix impressed me with (1) goaltending and (2) special teams. 3 for 4 on the power play? Pretty amazing. They need to figure out how to score some 5 on 5 goals though if they're going to win this series. I also wonder if age and fatigue was a factor for Detroit at all. I think this argument comes up every year with Detroit, but they did not look good in that third period. Lots of mistakes. Sharks and Avs: Thank you San Jose for living up (down?) to my expectations. I had a feeling about this game when Puck Daddy posted an interview with Joe Thornton where he was asked if SJ could only go as far as he could carry them and he basically had 2 responses: (1) they're more dependent on Nabokov, basically throwing him under the bus and (2) the whole we need to play well as a team spiel. Show some guts Joe and put it upon yourself to win. Anyway, the Sharks looked nervous and the Avs looked like a team who knew they were playing without any pressure. Plus 3 shots in the second period for San Jose? I would have boo'd them as well. Thornton so far: 0 points, -1 p/m, 5 shots. 58% on faceoffs at least. As a side note, will the hockey pool really not let me see how the guys on my roster are doing? I have to go to the scoresheet for all the players, see my highlighted picks and figure it out there. That doesn't seem very intuitive.
Go to the Standings, then to the right of your name click the view picks button (the magnifying glass). If you click someone else's picks, you can compare yours side by side.
I still think Boucher was the better goalie last night. On Richards' goal, Marty over-committed and left the glove side of the net wide open.The Devils weren't able to capitalize on the chances like they should have been (like all the power play time in the third) but Boucher was still making big saves when he needed to and kept the Flyers in it. He might have played well, but 2 goals on 14 shots is far from vintage Marty, which was more what I was getting at.
Any Habs fans here? If so, get ready for an embarrassingly short series. Also please feel free to admire the creativity of my new avatar. Let's start this shit. On a somewhat related note, my boyish face will be growing beard hair until the caps are out. My wife is not amused.
I'm going to kill myself now...with natural light. What a poor effort by the Caps here. Theodore came correct, aside from a select few the team looked lethargic. OV looked fucking high on horse tranquilizers out there.
Hiya, how was your night? For the record I think Ovy was trying to do too much but was contained by one of the best defensive players that night, Spacek. That being said, the series will probably gain momentum (in either direction) after game 2, as in, if the Caps win the Habs lose ALL their inertia. If the Habs win, well...
Tomas who? Here's to the Caps and Sharks choking in round 1. Long way to go, but fun to watch both games the last two days. Log in and then click See Complete Standings. Right above the Standings there is this: Groups: Everyone | tib -- click on tib.
Andy Sutton levelled Jordan Leopold in tonigh't game between the Pens and Sens. He was going with so much momentum on that hit that he actually went through the penalty box door and into the box. According to Bob McKenzie, the NHL and Colin Campbell have already said they're not suspending Sutton, and that it was a clean hit. Feet on the ice, arm tucked in until contact is made, gotta say that I agree with it. There was contact to the head, but it's not a blind-side hit. It's a north-south play, in which Leopold got caught with his head down. If you're gonna carry the puck like that in the NHL, you have to realize that there's gonna be guys coming at you, and you need to keep an eye out for 'em. You never wanna see a player hurt, but there has to be some onus on the guy to protect himself. Sutton's elbow does appear to come up once contact is initiated, but his arm hits Leopold's shoulder first and then continues into his head, after that. Whether or not you agree with that, that's how the NHL saw it. BTW, his back and forth with a Pittsburgh reporter after the game was pretty good:
I looked up the NHL's elbowing rule. I never realized that your arm had to be be fully extended. I always thought that you just had to catch someone with your elbow. Now I realize that I've seen a few bad elbowing calls throughout the years.
Crosby was incredible last night first this: Then this: He put on quite the show last night. He made Spezza look like he belongs in the minors.
It was a clean hit. No blindside, skates were on the ice, elbow down. Just a matter of Leopold skating with his head down and not being ready for it. If you penalized / suspended guys for hitting in situations like that, every skater would just keep his head down and stare at the puck. What has me more disappointed is that people, including Sutton, actually think Crosby's "hit" on Ruutu was a penalty. That was an Olympic gold-medal dive. Ruutu took one hit in the back, turns and sees it is Crosby, then flings himself at the boards on the second hit. That hit was nothing like the one on Dupuis either. If anything Ruutu should have been called for diving. He was more a threat to his health than Crosby was there. As for the playoffs in general... Having at least one game in each series go by, it's nice to see that each team can hang with their opponent and no one is just going to get rolled. Each lower seed already has a win save for Boston (who made Miller make 38 saves) and LA (who went to OT). Phoenix has impressed me in that they've shown they can go head-to-head with Detroit whether it's a physical game with lots of play along the boards like game one, or a fast north-south shootout. It'll be interesting to see who has the momentum now in the Sharks/Avs series. Colorado did their job and stole one on the road early, but giving up that late 3rd period goal and then losing in OT makes it hard to feel good about yourself. Also, VS is awful. They never cut away to show updates or inform you of the other games whatsoever. In the second period of SJ/Col there were six goals and they showed ONE like 10 mins after it happened. Edit: Also, throwing that "octopus" on the ice as an injured Coyote player was getting off the ice and they're trying to get the face off set up? Classy. If you must do it, (1) do it when some guy didn't just get knocked out and (2) do it as gameplay is stopping, not about to resume. Also, get a real octopus. That thing just looked like a pile of Nickelodeon gak.
I'm holding on to Price in my keeper fantasy league. Halak has had a good year, sure, but I don't think he'll be able to do it again. If the Habs sell high on him this summer I think it will be a good move.